In the early decades of the twentieth century, several pioneers of modern science in India were nominated for the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Apart from those who got elected, the others who were not elected also had high reputation among their peers and were usually nominated by British scientists who were aware of their scientific contributions. This paper discusses six Indian scientists who

Public trust is paramount for the well functioning of data driven healthcare activities such as digital health interventions, contact tracing or the build-up of electronic health records. As the use of personal data is the common denominator for these healthcare activities, healthcare actors have an interest to ensure privacy and anonymity of the personal data they depend on. Maintaining privacy and

(2021). Religion, Climate Change, and Material Demand Reduction. Theology and Science. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT Our discussion of Niccolò Tornioli's The Astronomers questions some of the traditional identifications of its characters, although we cannot claim to have solved these figures’ identities and several remain a mystery. We do present new iconographic interpretations of particular scientific instruments, diagrams, and natural phenomena in the canvas. These novel readings occasionally remain conjectural

A prominent way through which wave-particle duality has been ascribed to photons is by illustrating their “wave-like” behaviour in the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and “particle-like” behaviour in the anti-correlation experiment. This duality has been formulated in two ways. Some have based the claim on the complementarity principle. This formulation, however, has already been shown to be problematic

Johannes Kepler is often cited as a witness to scholars’ resistance to the shift from Latin to vernacular languages in the scientific literature in the early 17th century. Allegedly he was unable to read Italian, and reacted to Galileo's transition from Latin to Italian by accusing him of committing a crimen laesae humanitatis, with the double sense of “crime against humanity” and “crime against classical

The problem of climate change inaction is sometimes said to be ‘wicked’, or essentially insoluble, and it has also been seen as a collective action problem, which is correct but inconsequential. In the absence of progress, much is made of various frailties of the public, hence the need for an optimistic tone in public discourse to overcome fatalism and encourage positive action. This argument is immaterial

An important task for metaphysicians and philosophers of science is to account for laws of nature – in particular, how they distinguish themselves from ‘mere’ regularities, and the modal force they are endowed with, ‘natural necessity’. Dispositional essentialism about laws (for short: ‘essentialism’) is roughly the view that laws distinguish themselves by being grounded in the essences of natural

According to naturalized metaphysics, metaphysics should be informed by our current best science and not rely on a priori reasoning. Consequently, naturalized metaphysics tends to dismiss metaphysicians’ attempts to quarrel with science. This paper argues that naturalized metaphysics should instead welcome such conflicts between metaphysics and science. Naturalized metaphysics is not (and should not

The “practice turn” in philosophy of science has strengthened the connections between philosophy and scientific practice. Apart from reinvigorating philosophy of science, this also increases the relevance of philosophical research for science, society, and science education. In this paper, we reflect on our extensive experience with teaching mandatory philosophy of science courses to science students

Time-evolving tactile sensations are important in communication between animals as well as humans. In recent years, this research area has been defined as “tactileology,” and various studies have been conducted. This study utilized the tactile Gestalt theory to investigate these sensations. Since humans recognize shapes with their visual sense and melodies with their auditory sense based on the Prägnanz

Thomas Willis was born four hundred years ago on 27 January 1621 in Wiltshire. He has been dubbed ‘the father of neurology’ and is remembered for the Circle of Willis at the base of the brain. Young Thomas was educated at Oxford as a schoolboy and undergraduate. From 1646 he practised medicine and studied chemistry; he joined the Oxford Experimental Philosophical Club, and was Sedleian Professor of

Animals, especially mammals, have played a critical role in the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 virus originated in animals, and the virus can jump back and forth between humans and animals. Moreover, animals have been central to the development of the various vaccines against the virus now employed around the world, continuing a long history. The interrelationships between animals and humans in both

Computer simulations have conventionally been understood to be either extensions of formal methods such as mathematical models or as special cases of empirical practices such as experiments. Here, I argue that computer simulations are best understood as instruments. Understanding them as such can better elucidate their actual role as well as their potential epistemic standing in relation to science

This paper explores some variants and aspects of multi-quantificational criteria of existence, examining these in the context of the debate between monism and pluralism in analytical philosophy. Assuming familiarity with the findings to date (summarized in broad terms at the outset), we seek to apply to these the newly introduced concepts of “substitution” and “substitutional model”. Possible applications

In the middle third of the 19th century, George Phillip Cammann became known for the stethoscope improvement that came to bear his name and for the development of the then-popular diagnostic technique of auscultatory percussion. During his postgraduate training at the Paris hospitals in 1828–1830, he acquired a special interest in auscultation while attending lectures given by a friend and colleague

Mādhava’s Lagnaprakaraṇa is an important astronomical text which discusses numerous innovative techniques of precisely determining the udayalagna or the ascendant. In previous papers, we have detailed the various methods of determining the ascendant described in the second and third chapters of this text. In this paper, we discuss a technique described in the fifth chapter, which makes use of two quantities

Social machines are a prominent focus of attention for those who work in the field of Web and Internet science. Although a number of online systems have been described as social machines (examples include the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Reddit, and Galaxy Zoo), there is, as yet, little consensus as to the precise meaning of the term “social machine.” This presents a problem for the scientific

Thomas Shapter spent almost all his working life in Exeter, Devon. He lived to be 93 years old. He is remembered primarily for his book describing the 1832 epidemic of cholera in Exeter in which 402 people died.

To describe the meaning of functionality in a universe before life evolved, existing etiological and systemic accounts of function are evaluated. Since the theory of function is only applicable in context with living beings and artifacts used by living beings and therefore cannot predict how a prebiotic form of functionality could evolve, a maintenance account for functionality is proposed. This account

A probability distribution is regular if it does not assign probability zero to any possible event. Williamson (Analysis, 67, 173–180, 2007) argued that we should not require probabilities to be regular, for if we do, certain “isomorphic” physical events (infinite sequences of coin flip outcomes) must have different probabilities, which is implausible. His remarks suggest an assumption that chances

There is no prospect of discovering measurable cardinals by radio astronomy, but this does not mean that higher set theory is entirely irrelevant to applied mathematics broadly construed. By way of example, the bearing of some celebrated descriptive-set-theoretic consequences of large cardinals on measurable-selection theory, a body of results originating with a key lemma in von Neumann’s work on the

ABSTRACTFour philosophical concerns about higher-order logic in general and the specific demands placed on it by the neo-logicist project are distinguished. The paper critically reviews recent responses to these concerns by, respectively, the late Bob Hale, Richard Kimberly Heck, and myself. It is argued that these score some successes. The main aim of the paper, however, is to argue that the most

It is currently fashionable to take Putnamian model-theoretic worries seriously for mathematics, but not for discussions of ordinary physical objects and the sciences. However, I will argue that (under certain mild assumptions) merely securing determinate reference to physical possibility suffices to rule out the kind of nonstandard interpretations of our number talk Putnam invokes. So, anyone who

HaleBob. Essence and Existence: Selected Essays. Jessica Leech,** ed. Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. xii + 305. ISBN: 978-0-19-885429-6 (hbk); 978-0-19-259622-2 and 978-0-19-259623-9 (e-book). doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198854296.001.0001.

KennedyJuliette.**Gödel, Tarski and the Lure of Natural Language: Logical Entanglement, Formalism Freeness.Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. xii + 187. ISBN: 978-1-107-01257-8 (hbk); 978-0-511-99839-3 (online); 978-1-00902851-6, 978-1-00902823-3 (e-book). doi.org/10.1017/9780511998393.

The concept of the universe is used in physical cosmology differently from the usual meaning of the term, naively considered as the entire reality. Traditionally, thinking about the whole led to logical contradictions. Taking as reference the Kantian antecedent, different contemporary philosophical notions of the universe are analysed in the first part of this paper, including realist and constructivist

One of the central questions in the metaphysics of pregnancy is this: Is the foetus a part of the mother? In this paper I aim not to answer this question, but rather to raise methodological concerns regarding how to approach answering it. I will outline how various areas attempt to answer whether the foetus is a part of the mother so as to demonstrate the methodological problems that each faces. My

In this paper, I describe some strategies for teaching an introductory philosophy of science course to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students, with reference to my own experience teaching a philosophy of science course in the Fall of 2020. The most important strategy that I advocate is what I call the “Second Philosophy” approach, according to which instructors ought to emphasize

The modeling of black holes is an important desideratum for any quantum theory of gravity. Not only is a classical black hole metric sought, but also agreement with the laws of black hole thermodynamics. In this paper, we describe how these goals are achieved in string theory. We review black hole thermodynamics, and then explicate the general stringy derivation of classical spacetimes, the construction

Social evolution theory provides a wide array of successful evolutionary explanations for cooperative traits. However and surprisingly, a number of cases of unexplained cooperative behaviour remain. Shouldn’t they cast doubt on the relevance of the theory, or even disconfirm it? This depends on whether the theory is akin to a research programme such as adaptationism, or closer to a theory – a set of

The paper discusses what lay behind the successes of the Bavarian Academy of Science, which was established in 1759. To this end the academic day-to-day operations during the first five decades of its existence are being analyzed in four different fields of activity (academia, popularization, distribution of natural knowledge, expertise). It is shown that the academy with its skills und competences

ABSTRACT Non-interventionist objective divine action (NIODA) theories proposed by eminent scholars are often misconstrued as the causal joint theory. This misunderstanding is derived from the absence of a detailed, systematic examination of divine action theories. This article explores one of the NIODA proposals, namely, Arthur Peacocke's divine action model. Up until now, research on Peacocke's divine

ABSTRACT Ted Peters constructs a Cosmic History that depicts the inextricable connection between the human and the natural plus its ethical consequences. Even though I might assent to some of Peters’ conclusions, I see three problems. First, Peters makes a shift from present philosophical subjectivity (chapter 1) to scientific objectivity (chapter 17) and back to present confessional subjectivity (conclusion

(2021). Theology as freedom. Theology and Science. Ahead of Print.

(2021). The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2–3 and the Human Origins Debate. Theology and Science. Ahead of Print.

(2021). The sense of movement. An intellectual history.. Annals of Science. Ahead of Print.

Convergence of model projections is often considered by climate scientists to be an important objective in so far as it may indicate the robustness of the models’ core hypotheses. Consequently, the range of climate projections from a multi-model ensemble, called “model spread”, is often expected to reduce as climate research moves forward. However, the successive Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental

Dr James Copland (1791–1870) was born in the Orkney Islands and studied medicine at Edinburgh where he graduated in 1815. The following year was spent in Paris to acquire knowledge of the latest developments in pathology and he then travelled for a year along the coast of West Africa gaining practical experience of treating tropical diseases. After establishing his medical practice in London, which

Pietro Pacifico Gamondi was a tropical physician, who was one of the main protagonists of medical research during the 20th century. His training as a doctor first saw him in Rome following doctor Aldo Castellani. Gamondi then left for Lisbon, London, and the extra-European countries that have characterized his path as a doctor and as a man. In fact, he traveled to Indonesia and Africa, where took care

The epistemic value of models has traditionally been approached from a representational perspective. This paper argues that the artifactual approach evades the problem of accounting for representation and better accommodates the modal dimension of modeling. From an artifactual perspective, models are viewed as erotetic vehicles constrained by their construction and available representational tools

On a prima facia reading, Zhuangzi seems to endorse some form of skepticism or relativism. This seems at odds with Zhuangzi as one of the two main sources of classical Daoism, considering the ideals of virtue and self-development promoted by that philosophy. However, Zhuangzi’s metaphorical and allegorical style lends itself to a number of interpretations of his epistemology, as well as the kind of

We examine a publication by Euler, De novo genere oscillationum, written in 1739 and published in 1750, in which he derived for the first time, the differential equation of the (undamped) simple harmonic oscillator under harmonic excitation, namely the motion of an object acted on by two forces, one proportional to the distance traveled, the other varying sinusoidally with time. He then developed a

Objectivity in the sciences is a much-touted yet problematic concept. It is sometimes held up as characterising scientific knowledge, yet operational definitions are diverse and call for such paradoxical genius as the ability to see without a perspective, to predict repeatability, to elicit nature’s own self-revelation, or to discern the structure of reality with inerrancy. Here we propose a positive

It has been shown that quantum mechanics in its orthodox interpretation violates four different formulations of causality principle endowed with empirical meaning. The present work aims to highlight how even a realistic non-standard interpretation of the theory conflicts with causality in its Cartesian formulation of the principle of the non-inferiority of causes over effects. Such an interpretation

(2021). Can science make sense of life?. Theology and Science. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT Continuous creation refers to a theological concept at the frontier between philosophy and theology. It takes into account the dynamism of the creative act in time, seeking to give meaning to natural novelty that the modern sciences can help to describe. The concept of continuous creation renews the theology of creation in order better to dialogue with culture and meet the challenges of our

ABSTRACT This paper examines a neglected aspect of the history of the early Royal Society. Though it’s first two Royal Charters of 1662 and 1663 did not contain any religious-political restrictions, its 3rd Royal Charter of 1669 did. For the grant of an investment property in Chelsea, and the right to appoint more than one Vice President, the 3rd Charter restricted the sale of the property in Chelsea

Is it possible to measure the dispersion of ex ante chances (i.e., chances “before the event”) among people, be it gambling, health, or social opportunities? We explore this question and provide some tools, including a statistical test, to evidence the actual dispersion of ex ante chances in various areas, with a focus on chronic diseases. Using the principle of maximum entropy, we derive the distribution

This paper documents the perennial role of energy in geographic thought. The science of thermodynamics initially challenged geography's evolutionary and geological precepts. This incommensurability was overcome by the development of organismic theories of statehood. Energy went on to provide a means to make determinate statements about the relation between climate and society. With the rejection of

ABSTRACT Generally, there are two interpretative approaches to quantum theory: psi-ontic and psi-epistemic. According to the psi-ontic interpretations, quantum theory does/should describe or represent what the world is like. In contrast, according to the psi-epistemic interpretations, rather than representing the way the world is, quantum theory advises us on what to expect from the world and so helps

ABSTRACT The question whether Homo sapiens is truly sapiens (wise) has been the subject of lively debate in recent years in light of humanity’s inadequate response to a number of global catastrophic risks, among them climate change. While countless types of explanation could be proposed for humanity’s inadequate response to climate change, this article limits itself to two which locate the problem

ABSTRACT In the debate over whether mathematical facts, properties, or entities explain physical events (in what philosophers call ‘extra-mathematical’ explanations), Aidan Lyon’s (2012 Lyon, Aidan. 2012. “Mathematical Explanations of Empirical Facts, and Mathematical Realism.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 90 (3): 559–578.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) affirmative

In a recent paper, Negri and Pavlović (Studia Logica 1–35, 2020) have formulated a decidable sequent calculus for the logic of agency, specifically for a deliberative see-to-it-that modality, or dstit. In that paper the adequacy of the system is demonstrated by showing the derivability of the axiomatization of dstit from Belnap et al. (Facing the future: agents and choices in our indeterminist world

The last couple of decades have witnessed a renewed interest in the notion of inductive risk among philosophers of science. However, while it is possible to find a number of suggestions about the mitigation of inductive risk (i.e., its assessment and management) in the literature, so far these suggestions have been mostly relegated to vague marginal remarks. This paper aims to lay the groundwork for

British-American ophthalmologist Edward Perkins, MD, PhD (1919–2015) held wide-ranging research interests during his career at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London, the University of Iowa, and as a military doctor stationed in Kenya. With his PhD and a medical degree, Perkins was in the vanguard of clinician–scientists who possessed such dual credentials, enabling him to perform noteworthy experimental

We investigate the fundamental relationship between philosophical aesthetics and the philosophy of nature, arguing for a position in which the latter encompasses the former. Two traditions are set against each other, one is natural aesthetics, whose covering philosophy is Idealism, and the other is the aesthetics of nature, the position defended in this article, with the general program of a comprehensive

ABSTRACT In their article “Nature of Evidence in Religion and Natural Science” (Theology & Science 2020), Petteri Nieminen and colleagues compare the use of evidence in religion and science. Their claim is that religious use of evidence is characterized by “experiential” thinking and confirmation bias, which makes integration with science difficult. I argue, however, that their methodology is unreliable

ABSTRACT The paper discusses the definitions of “co-evolution” in biology and in scientific theories of religious evolution as an example for their use of biological terms. Sometimes this use is motivated by the vision of a general theory of macro-level evolution. There is a valid analogy between the co-evolution of biological species and “gene-culture co-evolution” in religious evolution. But the